{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.fetterman.senate.gov/fetterman-joins-senate-colleagues-in-letter-to-dhs-on-election-interference/", "Fetterman Joins Senate Colleagues in Letter to DHS on Election Interference", "2026-09-28", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "Senate", "PA", "John Fetterman", "F000479", "www.fetterman.senate.gov", "fetterman", "https://www.fetterman.senate.gov/press-release/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014 U.S. Senator John Fetterman (D-PA), a member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, joined his Senate colleagues in sending a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin urging the Department to halt its efforts in asserting federal control over and undermining public trust in the 2026 midterm elections. The senators demanded information substantiating Mullin\u2019s public claims about noncitizens who registered to vote, called on DHS to rescind new election-related conditions on Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) homeland security grants, release the full grant funding to states, and end the alleged \u201cUnlawful Voter Initiative\u201d disclosed by a recent whistleblower.\n\n\u201cWe write to warn you against continued activities at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that seek to undermine the Constitutional authority of both Congress and states to administer elections and defy the directions of federal courts. As Secretary of Homeland Security, you have promoted the President\u2019s conspiracy theories about our elections, pressured states to participate in illegal activities, and explicitly threatened to reduce grant funding and initiate criminal investigations for those states that do not comply with the Administration\u2019s demands,\u201d the senators wrote.\n\nIn their letter, the senators raised concerns about Mullin\u2019s unsupported claim that 250,000 noncitizens were registered to vote in four states, including Pennsylvania, and criticized DHS efforts to pressure states to provide sensitive voter roll information to be run through the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program, despite the Administration\u2019s acknowledgment of problems with the underlying data. The senators also objected to new election-related conditions on FEMA\u2019s Homeland Security Grant Program, which have been retroactively applied to previously awarded Fiscal Year 2025 funding and are threatening Fiscal Year 2026 funding. By threatening to withhold funding that communities rely on to prevent acts of terrorism and other threats, Mullin is putting Americans\u2019 safety at risk as political leverage.\n\nThe senators also highlighted allegations from a federal whistleblower about an effort referred to as the \u201cUnlawful Voter Initiative.\u201d According to the whistleblower, USCIS personnel were allegedly directed to use sensitive, personally identifiable information and improperly access state voter registration websites to find non-citizen voters. The whistleblower also alleged that personnel were directed to create law enforcement records using incomplete and unverifiable data for potential referral to law enforcement.\n\n\u201cAccording to the whistleblower, USCIS staff were given a list of names and told to use sensitive personally identifiable information to impersonate voters and access state voter registration websites to verify individuals\u2019 immigration and voter registration statuses. Equipped with incomplete and unverifiable data compiled with \u2018supplemental magic,\u2019 USCIS staff are allegedly being directed to create law enforcement records on individuals, including U.S. citizens, for possible referral to HSI for further investigation,\u201d the senators wrote. \u201cIf true, this is just another alarming effort by the Department to use data that USCIS materials admit may be inaccurate, coupled with questionable means to potentially disenfranchise voters.\u201d\n\nThe senators called on Mullin to immediately provide all information substantiating his July 17, 2026 allegations regarding noncitizens who registered to vote, rescind FEMA Information Bulletin Nos. 569 and 569(a) and release all withheld funds to states without further delay; and provide information about the \u201cUnlawful Voter Initiative\u201d and immediately cease its activities.\n\n\u201cThe 2026 midterm elections are already underway. Your unsubstantiated allegations of noncitizen voter fraud, public recitation of unreliable data, and unwarranted conditioning of continued grant funding for state election security measures on compliance with politically motivated requests for voter data appear to be calculated efforts to undermine confidence in our elections and risks wrongly disenfranchising voters,\u201d the senators wrote.\n\nSenator Fetterman has been unequivocally clear that our elections are absolutely secure, fair, and accurate. In April, he joined his colleagues in a letter to the United States Postal Service (USPS) Board of Governors and Postmaster General David Steiner urging them not to implement the March executive order that sought to transform USPS into an election administration agency with the power to determine who can vote by mail and to establish ballot specifications. In June following the Board\u2019s issuance of the proposed rule in response to the executive order, Senator Fetterman again joined his colleagues in a second letter urging the Board and Postmaster General Steiner to withdraw the proposed rule. Senate Democrats sent a third letter on September 4 after USPS finalized its rule to implement the vote-by-mail executive order.\n\nAs recently as the end of September, Senator Fetterman continued to urge that our elections are safe and secure, including vote-by-mail. At the Texas Tribune Festival last week, he highlighted that the \u201cbest examples of vote-by-mail come from red states.\u201d He continued the conversation saying, \u201cif the only time you criticize voting is if it means you lost, that means it\u2019s impossible to take that seriously.\u201d\n\nRead the full text of the senators\u2019 September letter to DHS below and here.\n\n\u2014\n\nDear Secretary Mullin:\n\nWe write to warn you against continued activities at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that seek to undermine the Constitutional authority of both Congress and states to administer elections and defy the directions of federal courts. As Secretary of Homeland Security, you have promoted the President\u2019s conspiracy theories about our elections, pressured states to participate in illegal activities, and explicitly threatened to reduce grant funding and initiate criminal investigations for those states that do not comply with the Administration\u2019s demands.\n\nYou have been unwilling to publicly affirm that you will not send U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel to the polls, despite federal law barring their presence. Most recently, you deployed Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) agents across nine states for a \u201ccoordinated criminal voter fraud surge initiative,\u201d despite the lack of verifiable evidence of widespread noncitizen voter fraud. Your actions as Secretary are intentionally undermining Americans\u2019 trust in the 2026 midterm elections and appear to purposefully disenfranchise eligible voters. Taken together, these actions amount to an illegal attempt to federalize the administration of the upcoming midterm elections.\n\nAt the direction of President Trump, you have endeavored to coerce states into divulging sensitive voter roll information, raising serious concerns about how that information will be stored and used. On March 25, 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order No. 14248, which required DHS to compare state voter registration lists against federal immigration databases. The Executive Order was followed by an overhaul of the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program, which transformed the program from one used for individual benefits eligibility checks to a system that could carry out bulk searches of records using Social Security numbers. Since then, DHS has repeatedly pressured states to share their voter rolls and run them through the modified SAVE program, despite legal concerns and known accuracy issues. You have exerted this pressure despite the fact that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which administers the SAVE program, has acknowledged that its results can be inaccurate. Additionally, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has acknowledged that its citizenship data for naturalized citizens \u2013 which is used by the SAVE program \u2013 is incomplete and unreliable. Even though the Supreme Court has allowed you to use the SAVE program for now, we remind you of the requirement of the National Voter Registration Act, 52 U. S. C. \u00a720507(c)(2)(A) that bars any systematic removal of ineligible voters within 90 days of Election Day.\n\nOn July 17, 2026, you claimed, without evidence, that 250,000 non-citizens were registered to vote in four states. This claim has been refuted by states and even by other administration officials. For example, you claimed that around 16,000 noncitizens illegally registered to vote in Nevada, but later, other DHS officials alleged the number was only 185. A subsequent review by Nevada state officials found all 185 individuals were U.S. citizens. These states did not agree to give you their sensitive state voter roll information and judges in each state dismissed the Department of Justice\u2019s efforts to access that information. Moreover, elections experts have challenged the legitimacy of these numbers. Considering the inaccuracies in SSA\u2019s citizenship categorizations and the questions surrounding how you obtained the voter roll information needed to analyze this data, we cannot trust the numbers as reported.\n\nFurther, under your leadership, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recently added new terms and conditions to fiscal year (FY) 2025 and 2026 Urban Area Security Initiative and State Homeland Security Grant Program awards. These are grants provided to states to help them protect their communities from terrorism and other hazards. In the FY 2025 Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), FEMA mandated that 3% of the target allocations for these grants be spent on enhancing election security, including critical activities like hardening election locations. Now, after FY25 agreements have already been signed, this Administration is threatening to withhold a percentage of the funding hostage if recipients do not meet these new, specious requirements, despite serious legal and implementation concerns. FEMA also added requirements to the recently released FY26 Homeland Security Grant Program NOFO, conditioning 20% of the full amount of the grants on states\u2019 compliance with election requirements that states have contested in litigation. DHS\u2019s continued interference with FEMA\u2019s grants puts FEMA\u2019s mission at risk, slows down the administration of grants, and ultimately hurts communities.\n\nNow, a federal whistleblower has alleged that, at the direction of DHS and USCIS leadership, the component\u2019s Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate staff may have violated laws and DHS policies in furtherance of a new \u201cUnlawful Voter Initiative.\u201d According to the whistleblower, USCIS staff were given a list of names and told to use sensitive personally identifiable information to impersonate voters and access state voter registration websites to verify individuals\u2019 immigration and voter registration statuses. Equipped with incomplete and unverifiable data compiled with \u201csupplemental magic,\u201d USCIS staff are allegedly being directed to create law enforcement records on individuals, including U.S. citizens, for possible referral to HSI for further investigation. If true, this is just another alarming effort by the Department to use data that USCIS materials admit may be inaccurate, coupled with questionable means to potentially disenfranchise voters.\n\nThe 2026 midterm elections are already underway. Your unsubstantiated allegations of noncitizen voter fraud, public recitation of unreliable data, and unwarranted conditioning of continued grant funding for state election security measures on compliance with politically motivated requests for voter data appear to be calculated efforts to undermine confidence in our elections and risks wrongly disenfranchising voters.\n\nWe are deeply troubled by the actions that you, DHS, and the Trump Administration have taken. As such, we demand that you immediately cease the aforementioned activities and provide us with all information underpinning the allegations made in your July 17, 2026, letter regarding non-citizens registered to vote, rescind Information Bulletin Nos. 569 and 569(a), release all withheld funds to the states without further delay, and provide information about the \u201cUnlawful Voter Initiative.\u201d\n\nThank you for your prompt attention and cooperation in this matter.\n\nSincerely,", 1, "2026-09-29T11:07:12Z", "2026-09-29T11:08:49Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.fetterman.senate.gov/fetterman-joins-senate-colleagues-in-letter-to-dhs-on-election-interference/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 5.634406115859747, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}